We survived!
It seems like just yesterday when we chanced upon a video asking a question if the viewer should be a Cardano Stake Pool Operator. We had the necessary skills and had enough capacity in our existing computer to setup a test environment so we gave it a go.
Three years later and we just celebrated our 3rd year as a Cardano stake pool operator last month. Sharing my thoughts for posterity in case it is of interest to anyone considering becoming an SPO or anyone just curious about the what a Cardano SPO goes through.
First off, all SPO are unique in their background, skillsets and demographic so the things that happened to me may not necessarily happen to you. With that said, here are our thoughts on the last 3 years:
◦ Initial study – the journey began with research including technical feasibility, market research and financial viability assessment. We also made sure the pool will be secure before even setting it up on Testnet. After a few more weeks of testing with good results, we decided to go,ahead to Mainnet
◦ Jump to Mainnet – this was a big step as we will be using real money in setting up the pool. We signed up with a fairly popular cloud provider which was not the most expensive one but was also not the cheapest. ADA had to be put into the pool to set it up and we were on our way.
◦ Marketing – once we get over the initial technical hurdle of setting up the pool, the next step was to concentrate on marketing. We created infographics, videos, blog posts, Twitter posts, the Cardano helper site SPOT Check and stayed active on social media and forums. From our own experience and after talking with fellow operators, the general consensus is paid advertising does not work. People who are willing to reveal their identity especially if they are attractive have an advantage here. A bunch of us who value our privacy can still make it but need to work harder.
◦ Influencers – as we went through our journey, we met people who offered interviews for SPO’s and one who made a calendar for SPO’s. We availed of these shared marketing opportunities and were lucky to be featured by a video blogger who never even contacted us.
◦ Maintenance – the initial system requirements was quite low so it was negligible at first. However, as more Cardano features went online, the initial 4GB memory requirement increased 6 times to today’s 24GB requirement. It became apparent that it is no longer feasible to use existing equipment very quickly. Cloud providers offered a quick fix but eventually we also invested in bare metal hardware.
◦ Community – all throughout the journey, the various communities in Cardano has been of great help. The official forum was where I started but eventually the discussions migrated to the various discord and telegram communities. Some of these communities have all but died down already but there are still a few like F2LB and XSPO Alliance that are still thriving and helping community members.
◦ Donations – unless you already have a lot of money to invest in your own pool OR if you have something unique that will attract people to delegate to you, you will probably struggle with getting enough delegates. Thankfully IOG me Cardano Foundation gives temporary delegation to deserving pools that are a benefit to the community.
◦ Projects – a lot of ideas are generated by the community. We have been very selective in who we support in order to protect our reputation. We were fortunate enough to be selected to be supported by one of the popular projects without going through a popularity contest. The project did not survive though and the experience made us even more skeptical of future projects. We would be happy to partner with great projects again but will probably be more cautious about it.
◦ Departures – as the months turned to years, we saw a number of pools who started around the same time as us start to close down.. These were the people who we supported technically and through shared marketing. Some left tearful goodbye messages while others just disappeared without explanation.
◦ Reality – we have been very fortunate compared to other pools that we have the skill set to maintain the pool, do marketing and also setup helper sites like Cardano SPOTCheck and our regular blog at Blockchainlens.org. This allowed us to get delegation from IOG and CF and to be visible to the community including potential partners.
◦ Next Steps – we setup the pool as an educational experience and we are still learning from it. While we do not have as much delegators as before, we still are able to make a block every few months. Wishing more delegators will join us so we are encouraged to continue on this journey.
So there you have it, our thoughts as a Cardano Stake Pool Operator for three years. We had a good run compared to a lot of pools but we are wishing for an even better one in the next part of the journey.
In other matters, we continue to support educational charities with our latest donation to Children’s Wishing Well:
WISH Pool is the creator of Cardano SPOT Check, an online resource for Cardano Stake Pool Operators for maintaining their nodes (http://SPOTCheck.Blockchainlens.Org). Our mission is to eliminate poverty through education one student at a time. We do this by raising awareness and regularly donating to educational charities so that successful students can get their families out of poverty. We also educate the community through our regular blog. We were a recipient of the IOG delegation in 2021 and the Cardano Foundation delegation in 2022.
If you like this article, we greatly appreciate if you will delegate to WISH Pool. Earn interest rewards while helping the lives of disadvantaged children. Let’s help grow the community together!
WISH Pool by Blockchain Lens 